it was for me now.
"Well, then," I said, trying to sound brave. "Well, I suppose I'd better go."
He looked as disappointed as a child.
"And here was I, thinking you'd be pleased. Here was I, expecting a hug and kiss, at least."
I couldn't help smiling and leaned forward to kiss his pitted cheek.
"I'm just scared, Tam. I'm truly grateful. For everything."
"Then get along with you," he said, moving cautiously to his feet. "It's a good fifteen miles up to the muster place." He squinted up at the sun. "Four or five hours at a steady pace. Keep to the west and work your way up the coast to the northern tip of the island. You'll see a couple of islands out in the channel there. The cattle will be down by the shore. There's a bit of a cliff, like this one here. Hide up there in the overhang. Don't show yourself to the drovers yet, because there'll be farmers coming and going, bringing up their cows for the crossing. It's to be first thing in the morning, when the tide is low. I'll come and find you there tonight. Listen out for my whistle, and whistle back."
"Aren't you going to come up there with me?" I said shakily. "Please, Tam."
He looked away from me, his eyes suddenly shifty.
"I can't, darling. There's things I have to do. But I'll see you tonight, I promise."
The thought of the long day ahead alone frightened me. "You didn't bring me anything to eat, Tam, did you?" I said plaintively. "I'm starving."
He clapped both hands to his bonnet.
"Now here's an old fool," he said, watching my face fall even further. Then he grinned and, like a conjuror, whipped off his bonnet and pulled out a hunk of bread with a lump of hard cheese stuck into it.
"I stole it from the inn, didn't I," he said, with simple pride. "It's real wheat bread, Maidie, like the high-ups eat. Hey, don't gobble it down so fast. You'll choke yourself."
***
Until that day I'd never been farther away from Scalpsie Bay than Rothesay, and after half an hour of half running, half walking, I was out of my own known world.
At first I was so scared of being recognized and caught that I darted like a hunted animal from one place of shelter to another, making rushes across the open to duck down behind a wall or drop behind a clump of gorse. But then, just as I was leaping out from under a tree to make a dash across a headland, I ran slap into a farmer, walking silently along with his dog at his heels.
"Watch out, lad. Going like that, you'll knock a body over," he said, in a friendly enough voice. "Where are you running off to?"
I was too terrified to speak and stood poised, ready to bolt again.
"Where are you from?" he said, looking at me more closely. "I've not seen you before."
I managed to point vaguely ahead along the coast and mumbled something, in as gruff a voice as I could manage, about being lost.
His face cleared.
"Oh, you'll be Macallister's new boy. No need to look as if the Devil was after you. Macallister's a good man. He'll not give you a beating for losing your way. Just follow the lane up here, and cut across the top. It'll take you down to Straad."
I didn't dare try to speak again but smiled my thanks and went off at a trot, not too fast, in case he became suspicious.
The best thing was that my disguise had worked. It would be more dangerous for me to skulk about like a fugitive. I could walk boldly along in the open like anyone else.
Chapter 12
Fifteen miles is a long way to walk on nothing but a piece of bread and bite of cheese, and by the time I'd reached the northern tip of the island, my feet were sore, my bundle hung heavily on my shoulder, and my head was spinning with hunger and tiredness. I was beginning to think I would never get there, never see those little islands and find the drovers, and I couldn't help but go slower and slower, weighted down with hopelessness. Then, suddenly, I heard the blessed sound of cattle lowing. It came from over the hill ahead. I ran up it with a burst of fresh energy, then slowed down as I reached the crest and went on cautiously, keeping my head low, afraid of being seen.
The coast is rocky